Elizabeth Johnson

Elizabeth founded SimpsonScarborough in 2006 with the vision of creating a higher ed marketing agency that puts research at the center of marketing strategies. Over the last 30 years, Elizabeth has helped more than 300 institutions research, develop, and implement plans to increase visibility, strengthen enrollment, raise money, and advance higher ed brands —from flagship universities and Ivy League institutions to small liberal arts colleges and regional state schools. She is a staunch advocate for the role of CMO within higher ed and the need to integrate marketing across the enterprise for colleges and universities to thrive despite the many challenges facing the industry. Elizabeth is a trusted resource within the higher education marketing community, having presented more than 200 workshops and papers at a veritable alphabet soup of higher education-related conferences and symposia, and chairing the American Marketing Association's Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education from 2007-2011. Her work is fueled by an enduring belief that higher ed changes the world, and that US colleges and universities play an essential role in solving the world's most pressing problems —like curing cancer, alleviating poverty, and ending systemic racism. Elizabeth is a proud alumnus of James Madison University where she earned her B.S. in Mathematics and Fordham University where she earned her M.B.A. with a concentration in Marketing.